January 24, 2018 at 12:44 p.m.
Moore resigns as Crandon football coach
Former RHS coach led Cardinals to playoffs three straight years
Moore resigns as Crandon football coach
Moore spoke to the River News about the decision Tuesday. Though Moore made his decision in November, the coaching vacancy has only recently been posted by the Crandon School District in a classified ad in a local paper.
Moore, who is still employed as a full-time physical education instructor at Rhinelander High School, said the demands of balancing both jobs - and the daily 50-mile round-trip commute to and from Crandon after school during the football season - ultimately led to his decision.
"It's a lot of wear and tear on vehicles and wear and tear on me," he said. "It was fun and I'm glad that Crandon allowed me to get back in the game. There's not a closer gig (to home). It worked out and I was able to do it for three years. I guess I just ran out of energy, you know."
Moore was 17-13 with the Cardinals, leading Crandon to the playoffs in each of his three seasons at the helm. Crandon went 7-3 in 2017, winning the conference championship in the inaugural year of the newly-merged Marinette & Oconto/Northern Lakes/Packerland Small Conference. According to Moore, it was only the fifth conference championship in the history of Crandon football.
"I love the time and effort Jim puts into a football program. Every year that he was here at Crandon, it was wildly successful," said Crandon activities director Josh Jaeger, the former head cross country coach at Rhinelander High School. "He's exactly what our football team needed. He came in and brought us a conference championship. Barring a few injuries, we probably would have had our first playoff win in quite a few years."
The Cardinals fell to Auburndale 35-7 in Level 1 of the WIAA Division 6 playoffs. Crandon led 7-0 early in the contest, but sustained a number of injuries to key players in the first half of the contest.
According to a review of Crandon School Board meeting minutes, Moore's resignation was presented to, and unanimously accepted, by board on Nov. 13, 2017. The position was posted publicly earlier this month.
Moore said the time felt right to make a change and added he was pleased to make the decision on his own terms.
"We're proud of our effort over there the last three years. The conference championship helped. It was kind of a good way to end ... It's real special for our kids and our staff. It doesn't happen all the time over there."
Moore has won 187 games in a coaching career that has spanned 33 years as a head coach and five more as an assistant. He won the WIAA Division 4 state championship at Wittenberg-Birnamwood in 1997.
Moore left W-B to coach at his alma mater, Rhinelander High School, in 2004. Moore was 22-75 with the Hodags before the district decided to not renew his contract in January 2014. Moore's record at Rhinelander includes the Hodags most recent win in the Bell Game series with archrival Antigo (2006) and a trip to the WIAA Division 3 playoffs in 2012 - one of only two postseason appearances in school history.
Rhinelander changed offensive philosophies when it hired Chris Ferge to replace Moore, going from a plodding ground attack to an uptempo spread game. Moore stuck to his run-heavy Power I scheme in Crandon, which yielded 15 conference wins in three years between the Northern Lakes and MONLPC Small.
"Crandon, they really took to it," he said. "They were good with old-school, double tight, Power I (football). We did a few different things, but they were really receptive to that. You've got to find a good fit for your community."
Moore, a Class of 1975 graduate of RHS, went on to play collegiate football at Wisconsin before breaking into coaching as an assistant for five years in Sun Prairie.
"I've enjoyed coaching for the last 40 years, damn near," he said. "For me, it's about how you work with kids, how you work with coaching staff and putting in good effort every day. I feel good about the effort the past three years."
Moore has had only one fall away from football since his playing days. That came in 2014 when he was between his coaching gigs at Rhinelander and Crandon. He said he anticipates having more free time this fall.
"I'm looking forward to fishing more, hunting more, helping out (in the weight room at Rhinelander) more," he said.
Moore, who recently turned 61, said he intends to teach one more year at RHS before retiring at the end 2018-19 school year. However, he did not close the door on a return to the sidelines in some capacity following his retirement from teaching.
"We'll just kind of see what happens," he said.
Jaeger said Crandon would have a spot for Moore when and if he decides to return to coaching.
"I told Jim, in any capacity, if you want to come back here, I'll find a spot for you," he said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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